(Reuters) – Consumer prices in France were up 1.8% year-on-year in January, statistics office INSEE said on Tuesday, in line with analysts’ expectations and the preliminary reading.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had on average expected a preliminary EU-harmonised inflation figure of 1.8% in January.
Price increases in services and energy, up 2.5% and 1.6% respectively from a year earlier, and a rebound in prices of manufactured goods were the main drivers of inflation at the start of the year, INSEE said.
On a monthly basis, prices decreased 0.2% in January, in line with the preliminary reading and expectations, after having risen 0.2% in December.
The highest month-on-month increases in prices were for tobacco at +3.8%, fresh food at +2.8% and petroleum products at +2.8% in January, INSEE said.
Prices for transport were down 8.3%, while those of clothing and shoes fell by 7.2% and manufactured products by 1.1%, the biggest fallers in the same period.
(Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
